It is entitled, "The Essayes or Covnsels Civill and Morall, London, Printed by Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret. 1625." The Essays contained in the volume now published are an exact transcript of this edition of 1625, except that I have added the note in page 43. Of this edition, Lord Bacon sent a copy to the Marquis Fiat.1 There is a Latin edition of the Essays consisting of the Essays in the edition of 1625, except the two Essays of Prophecies, and of Masks and Triumphs, which seem not to have been translated. The nature of the Latin edition and of the Essays in general is thus stated by Archbishop Tenison." 66 The Essays, or Counsels Civil and Moral, though a By-work also, do yet make up a Book of greater weight by far, than the Apothegms: And coming home to Men's Business and Bosomes, his Lordship entertain❜d this persuasion concerning them, that the Latine Volume might last as long as Books should last. His Lordship wrote them in the English Tongue, and enlarged them as Occasion serv'd, and at last added to them the Colours of Good and Evil, which are likewise found in his Book De Augmentis. The Latine Translation of them was a Work performed by divers Hands; by those of Doctor Hacket (late Bishop of Lichfield) Mr. Benjamin Johnson (the learned and judicious Poet) and some others, whose Names I once heard from Dr. Rawley; but I cannot now recal them. To this Latine Edition, he gave the Title of Sermones Fideles, after the manner of the Jews, who call'd the words Adagies, or Observations of the Wise, Faithful Sayings: that is, credible Propositions worthy of firm Assent, and ready Acceptance. And (as I think) he alluded more particularly, in this Title, to a passage in Ecclesiastes, where the Preacher saith that he sought to find out Verba Delectabilia, (as Tremellius rendreth the Hebrew) pleasant Words, (that is, perhaps, his Book of Canticles ;) and Verba Fidelia (as the same Tremellius) Faithful Sayings; meaning, it may be, his Collection of Proverbs. In the next Verse, he calls them Words of the Wise, and so many Goads and Nails given Ab eodem Pastore,' from the same Shepherd [of the Flock of Israel."] And of this translation, Bacon speaks in the following letter. "To Mr. TOBIE MATTHEW. "It is true, my labours are now most set to have those works, which I had formerly published, as that of Advancement of Learning, that of Hen. VII. that of the Essays, being retractate, and made more perfect, well translated into Latin by the help of some good pens, which forsake me not. For these modern languages will, at one time or other, play the bankrupt with books: and since I have lost much time with this age, I would be glad, as God shall give me leave, to recover it with posterity. "For the Essay of Friendship, while I took your speech of it for a cursory request, I took my promise for a compliment. But since you call for it, I shall perform it." In his letters to Father Fulgentio, giving some account of his writings, he says, "The Novum Organum should immediately follow, but my Moral and Political writings step in between as being more finished. These are the History of King Henry the Seventh, and the small Book, which in your language you have called Saggi Morali, but I give it a graver title, that of Sermones Fideles, or Interiora Rerum, and these Essays will not only be enlarged in number but still more in sub stance." Baconiana, 201.-" A Letter of the Lord Bacon's, in French, to the Marquis Fiat, relating to his Essays." "Monsieur l'Ambassadeur mon File, "Voyant que vostre Excellence faict et traite Mariages, non seulement entre les Princes d' Angleterre et de France, mais aussi entre les Langues (puis que faictes traduire non Liure de l' Advancement des Sciences en Francois) i' ai bien voulu vous envoyer mon Liure dernierement imprimé que i' avois pourveu pour vous, mais i' estois en doubte, de le vous envoyer, pour ce qu'il estoit escrit en Anglois. Mais a' cest' Heure poure la raison susdicte ie le vous envoye. C' cst un Recompilement de mes Essays Morales et Civiles; mais tellement enlargiés et enrichiés, tant de Nombre que de Poix, que c'est de fait un Oeuvre nouveau. le vous baise les Mains, et reste, "Vostre tres Affectionée Ami, ex tres humble Serviteur." "The same in English, by the Publisher. "My Lord Embassador, my Son, "Seeing that your Excellency makes and treats of Marriages, not only betwixt the Princes of France and England, but also betwixt their Languages (for you have caus'd my Book of the Advancement of Learning, to be Translated into French) I was much inclin'd to make you a Present of the last Book which I published, and which I had in readiness for you. "I was sometimes in doubt, whether I ought to have sent it to you, because it was written in the English Tongue. But now, for that very Reason, I send it to you. It is a Recompilement of my Essaies Moral, and Civil; but in such manner enlarged and enriched both in Number and Weight, that it is in effect, a new Work. I kiss your hands, and remain Your most Affectionate friend and most humble Servant, &c Baconiana, page 60. Ibid. page 196. I have annexed an Appendix1 containing "A fragment of an Essay of Fame," which was published by Dr. Rawley in his Resuscitatio: and "Of a King," which was published in 1648, in a volume entitled “Remains,” which also contains an Essay “On Death." This Essay I have inserted in page 131 of this volume.3 During the life of Bacon, various editions of the Essays were published and in different languages: in 1618, in Italian: in 1619, in French:5 in 1621, in Italian, and in French.7 6 66 Since Lord Bacon's death, the press has abounded with editions. In some of these editions the editors have substituted their own translations of the Latin for the beautiful English by Lord Bacon. How well they have succeeded the reader may judge by the following specimens. In a translation published by william H. Willymott, LL.D., A. D. 1720, he says, Wanting an English Book for my Scholars to Translate, which might improve them in Sense and Latin at once, (Two Things which should never be divided in Teaching) I thought nothing more proper for that purpose than Bacon's Essays, provided the English, which is in some Places grown obselete, were a little reformed, and made more fashionable. Accordingly having by me his Lordship's Latin Volume of the Essays, (which as it was a later, so seems to be a perfecter Book) I fell to Translating it, not tying myself strictly to the Latin, but comparing both Languages together, and setting down that Sense (where there was any Difference) that seem'd the fullest and plainest." The following is a specimen : Dr. Willymott. "The principal Virtue of Prosperity, is Temperance; of Adversity, Fortitude; which in Morals is reputed the most heroical Virtue. Again, Prosperity belongs to the Blessings of the Old Testament; Adversity to the Beatitudes of the New, which are both in Reality greater, and carry a clearer Revelation of the Divine Favour. Yet, even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's Harp, you'll find more lamentable Airs, than Triumphant ones." Lord Bacon. "But to speak in a mean, the virtue of pros perity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is fortitude, which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favour. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many herse-like airs as carols." So too Shaw has made a similar attempt, of which the following is a specimen, from the Essay "Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature." Lord Bacon. "The parts and signs of goodness are many. If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shews he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them; if he be compassionate towards the afflictions of others, it shews that his heart is like the noble tree that is wounded itself when it gives the balm: if he easily pardons and remits offences, it shews that his mind is planted above injuries, so that he cannot be shot; if he be thankful for small benefits, it shews that he weighs men's minds, and not their trash." Dr. Shaw. "There are several parts and signs of goodness. If a man be civil and courteous to strangers, it shews him a citizen of the world, whose heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins them. If he be compassionate to the afflicted, it shews a noble soul, like the tree which is wounded when it gives the balm. If he easily pardons and forgives offences, it shews a mind perched above the reach of injuries. If he be thankful for small benefits, it shews he values men's minds before their treasure." § 2. MEDITATIONES SACRÆ. The first and, I believe, the only edition of this tract which was published in Latin by Lord Bacon, appeared in 1597. During his life, and since his death, it has been frequently reprinted. If the reader will compare the Meditation upon Atheism, in page 70. with the Essay on Atheism, page 24 and his observation upon Atheism, in page 164, he will see that these Meditations are but the seeds See end of Essays There is a manuscript of this Essay in the Lansdown Collection, B. Museum, 135, 136. In Blackburn's edition of Bacon's Works, published in 1640, he says, "I have inserted from the Remains, an Essay of a King: and my reason is, it is so colEated and corrected by Archbishop Sancroft's well known hand, that it appears to be a new work; and though it consists of short propositions mostly, yet I will be so presumptuous as to say, that I think it now breathes the true spirit of our author; and there seems to be an obvious reason why it was omitted before." There is a MS. of this in the Harleiam MS. Vol. ii. p. 196. • Essays, Italice, 8vo. B. Museum and Oxford. Essays Moraux, par Gorges. B. Museum and Oxford. • Saggi Morali, opera nuova de F. Bacon corretta a data en luce dal. Sig. Andr: Croli et un tributo, 24mo. B. Museum • Essais trad. en Francois par Bandouin, 16mo. Paris. B. Museum. of his opinions upon this important subject. The sentiments and the very words are similar. In the Meditation, he says, "This I dare affirm in knowledge of nature, that a little natural philosophy, and the first entrance into it, doth dispose the opinion to atheism; but on the other side, much natural philosophy and wading deep into it will bring about men's minds to religion; wherefore atheism every way seems to be joined and combined with folly and ignorance, seeing nothing can be more justly allotted to be the saying of fools, than this, "There is no God.'" In the Advancement of Learning, he says, "It is an assured truth, and a conclusion of experience, that a little or superficial knowledge of philosophy may incline the mind of man to atheism, but a further proceeding therein doth bring the mind back again to religion; for in the entrance of philosophy, when the second causes, which are next unto the senses, do offer themselves to the mind of man, if it dwell and stay there, it may induce some oblivion of the highest cause; but when a man passeth on farther, and seeth the dependence of causes, and the works of Providence, then, according to the allegory of the poets, he will easily believe that the highest link of nature's chain must needs be tied to the foot of Jupiter's chair." § 3. THE COLOURS OF GOOD AND EVIL. This tract was published by Lord Bacon in 1597,1 and has been repeatedly published by different editors. It was incorporated in the treatise on rhetoric, in the Advancement of Learning, and more extensively in the treatise "De Augmentis." The dedication, of which there is a MS.3 in the British Museum, to the Lord Mountjoye, is copied from "The Remains," published by Stephens. § 4. PRAISE OF KNOWLEDGE. 5 This tract "In Praise of Knowledge," of which there is a MSS. in the British Museum, is a rudiment both of the "Advancement of Learning," and of the "Novum Organum." This will appear from the following extracts: PRAISE OF KNOWLEDGE, PAGE 79 OF THIS VOL. "The truth of being, and the truth of knowing, is all one: and the pleasures of the affections greater than the pleasures of the senses. And are not the pleasures of the intellect greater than the pleasures of the affections? Is it not a true and only natural pleasure, whereof there is no satiety? Is it not knowledge that doth alone clear the mind of all perturbations?" ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, PAGE 183 OF THIS VOL. "The pleasure and delight of knowledge and learning far surpasseth all other in nature; for, shall the pleasures of the affections so exceed the senses, as much as the obtaining of desire or victory exceedeth a song or a dinner; and must not, of consequence, the pleasures of the intellect or understanding exceed the pleasures of the affections? We see in all other pleasures there is a satiety, and after they be used, their verdure departeth; which sheweth well they be but deceits of pleasure, and not pleasures; and that it was the novelty which pleased, and not the quality: and therefore we see that voluptuous men turn friars, and ambitious princes turn melancholy. But of knowledge there is no satiety, but satisfaction and appetite are perpetually interchangeable." PRAISE OF KNOWLEDGE, PAGE 80 OF THIS VOL. “Printing, a gross invention; artillery, a thing that lay not far out of the way; the needle, a thing partly known before: what a change have these three things made in the world in these times; the one in state of learning, the other in state of the war, the third in the state of treasure, commodities, and navigation?" NOVUM ORGANUM, PART I. APH. 129. “Rursus, vim et virtutem et consequentias Rerum inventarum notare juvat: quæ non in aliis manifestius occurrunt, quam in illis tribus, quæ Antiquis incognita, et quarum primordia, licet recentia, obscura et ingloria sunt: Artis nimirum Imprimendi, Pulveris Tormentarii, et Acus Nau "Of the Coulours of good and evill a fragment. 1597." At the end, and after the word" Finis," in this old edition is, "Printed at London by John Windet for Humfrey Hooper. 1597." See page 217. Harleian 6797, and there is a page or two of the work itself. But I do not find it prefixed to the work. • Harleian MSS. 6797. ticæ. Hæc enim tria, rerum faciem et statum in Orbe terrarum mutaverunt: primum, in Re Literaria; secundum, in Re Bellica: tertium, in Navigationibus: Unde innumeræ rerum mutationes sequutæ sunt, ut non imperium aliquod, non Secta, non Stella majorem efficaciam et quasi influxum super res humanas exercuisse videatur, quam ista Mechanica exercuerunt."1 § 5. VALERIUS TERMINUS. This too is clearly a rudiment of the "Advancement of Learning," as may be perceived almost in every page: for instance, by comparing, of this volume, It is also a rudiment of the "Novum Organum." In page 89 of this volume, he says, "Let the effect to be produced be whiteness; let the first direction be, that if air and water be intermingled, or broken in small portions together, whiteness will ensue, as in snow, in the breaking of the waves of the sea, and rivers, and the like." In the "Novum Organum," under the head of travelling instances, he says, "To give an example of a travelling instance; suppose the nature inquired after were whiteness, an instance advancing to generation is glass, whole, and in powder; and again, simple water, and water beat into froth; for whole glass, and simple water, are transparent bodies, not white; but powdered glass, and the froth of water, are white, not transparent." § 6. The tract entitled "Filum Labyrinthi," of which there is a MSS. in the British Museum, seems to have been the rudiment of the tract in Latin in Gruter's collection, entitled "Cogitata et Visa,"s the three first sections containing the same sentiments in almost the same words. That it is a rudiment of the "Advancement of Learning" is manifest, as will appear by comparing the beautiful passage in page 165 with the following sentence in page 97 of this volume, "He thought also, that knowledge is almost generally sought either for delight and satisfaction, or for gain or profession, or for credit and ornament, and that every of these are as Atalanta's balls, which hinder the race of invention." It is also a rudiment of the Novum Organum. Speaking of universities, he says, in page 98 of this volume, "In universities and colleges men's studies are almost confined to certain authors, from which if any dissenteth or propoundeth matter of redargution, it is enough to make him thought a person turbulent; whereas if it be well advised, there is a great difference to be made between matters contemplative and active. For in government change is suspected, though the better; but it is natural to arts to be in perpetual agitation and growth. Neither is the danger alike of new light, and of new motion or remove." In the Novum Organum he says, (Aph. 90,) "Again in the customs and institutions of schools, universities, colleges, and the like conventions, destined for the seats of learned men, and the promotion of knowledge, all things are found opposite to the advancement of the sciences; for the readings and exercises are here so managed, that it cannot easily come into any one's mind to think of things out of the common road. Or if here and there one should use a liberty of judging, he can only impose the task upon himself, without obtaining assistance from his fellows; and if he could dispense with this, he will still find his industry and resolution a great hindrance to the raising of his fortune. For the studies of men in such places are confined, and pinned down to the writings of certain authors; from which, if any man happens to differ, he is presently reprehended as a disturber and innovator. But there is surely a great difference between arts and civil affairs; for the danger is not the same from new light, as from new commotions. In civil affairs, it is true, a change even for the better is suspected, through fear of disturbance; because these affairs depend upon authority, consent, reputation, and opinion, and not upon demonstrations: but arts and sciences Shaw's translation: "Again, it may not be improper to observe the power, the efficacy, and the consequences of inventions, which appear no where plainer, than in those three particulars, unknown to the ancients, and whose origins, though modern, are obscure and inglorious, viz. the art of printing, gunpowder, and the compass, which have altered the state of the world, and given it a new face; 1. With regard to learning; 2. With regard to war; and, 3. With regard to navigation. Whence number les vicissitudes of things have ensued, insomuch that no empire, no sect, no celestial body, could seem to have a greater efficacy, and, as it were, influence over human affairs than these three mechanical inventions have had." I have ventured in this preface to substitute "waves" for ways. "Scala Intellectus, sive Filum Labyrinthi," is the title of the fourth part of the “Instauratio." • Catalogue Harleian, vol. iii. page 397. Art. 6797. • These will be explained hereafter. should be like mines, resounding on all sides with new works, and farther progress. And thus it ought to be, according to right reason; but the case, in fact, is quite otherwise. For the abovementioned administration and policy of schools and universities generally opposes and greatly prevents the improvement of the sciences." It is not the correctness of these opinions respecting universities, which is now attempted to be investigated. The only object is to explain the similarity of the sentiments in this tract, entitled "Valerius Terminus," and the "Novum Organum ;" but it seems not undeserving observation that this opinion must have been entertained by him very early in life, probably when resident in Cambridge, which he quitted soon after he was sixteen years of age, when the torpor of university pursuits would ill accord with his active mind, anxious only to invent and advance. At this early period, he, without considering whether universities are not formed rather for diffusing the knowledge of our predecessors, than for the discovery of unexplored truths; without considering the evil of youthful attempts not to believe first what others know, would naturally feel "that in the universities of Europe they learn nothing but to believe: first, to believe that others know that which they know not; and after, themselves know that which they know not." He would naturally enough say, "They are like a becalmed ship; they never move but by the wind of other men's breath, and have no oars of their own to steer withal." But this opinion, thus early impressed upon his mind, seems to have been regulated in the year 1605, when he published the Advancement of Learning, and where, in his tract upon universities, after having enumerated many of their defects, he says, "The last defect which I will note is, that there hath not been, or very rarely been, any public designation of writers or inquirers concerning such parts of knowledge as may appear not to have been already sufficiently laboured or undertaken."1 $ 7. DE CALORE ET FRIGORE. This is obviously the rudiment of the Affirmative Table in the Novum Organum. $ 8. HELPS FOR INTELLECTUAL POWERS. The tract entitled "Helps for Intellectual Powers," was published by Rawley in his Resuscitatio, in 1657. 66 In a letter from Gruter to Dr. Rawley, dated July 1, 1659, and thanking him for a present of Lord Bacon's Posthumous Works, in Latin, (probably Opuscula cum Vita, published in 1658,) he says, one paper I wonder I saw not amongst them, The Epistle of the Lord Bacon to Sir Henry Savil, about the Helps of the Intellectual Powers,' spoken of long ago in your letters under that, or some such title, if my memory does not deceive me. If it was not forgotten and remains among your private papers, I should be glad to see a copy of it, in the use of which, my faithfulness shall not be wanting. But, perhaps, it is written in the English tongue, and is a part of that greater volume, which contains only his English works."" $ 9. THE APOPHTHEGMES. In the Advancement of Learning, Bacon divides the Appendices to History into-1. Memorials. 2. Epistles. 3. Apophthegmes. And, after lamenting the loss of Cæsar's book of Apophthegmes, he says, "as for those which are collected by others, either I have no taste in such matters, or else their choice hath not been happy:" but yet it seems that he had stored his mind with a collection of these "Mucrones Verborum," as, for his recreation in his sickness in the year preceding his death, he fanned the old, and dictated what he thought worth preservation. Archbishop Tenison, in his Baconiana, page 47, says, "The Apophthegmes (of which the first is the best Edition) were (what he saith also of his Essays) but as the Recreations of his other Studies. They were dictated one morning, out of his memory; and if they seem to any, a birth too inconsiderable for the brain of so great a man; they may think with themselves how little a time he went with it, and from thence make some allowance. Besides, his lordship hath received much injury by late editions, of which some have much enlarged, but not at all enriched the collection; stuffing it with tales and sayings, too infacetious for a ploughman's chimney-corner. And particularly, in the collection not long since published, and See his New Atlantis. See the original in Latin, with the translation from which this extract is copied in the Baconiana, 239, 240, and note he was right in this supposition. Apoth. printed in Oct. Lon. 1625. The title page of this edition is "Apophthegmes, New and Old, collated by the Right Honorable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount St. Alban.-London: printed for Hanna Barret and Richard Whittaker, and are to be sold at the King's Head in Paul's Church, 1625.” See his Epistle to Bishop Andrews. In Octavo. Lon. 1669. VOL. L.-2 Even by that added (but not by Dr. Rawley) to the Resuscitatio.-Baconiana. |